Ian White won’t be getting to San Jose until about 1:30 p.m., but look for him on the ice tonight against the Colorado Avalanche. He’ll be the guy with the No. 9 on the back of his Sharks jersey.

We’ll get the other transactions out of the way quickly, then get back to the big one from yesterday.

Justin Braun has been called up from Worcester, Jason Demers is back from his commute to Stockton and both Benn Ferriero and Matt Irwin have been reassigned to Worcester.

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And if all that is starting to sound to you like last year’s Worcester Shuttle maneuverings to maintain room under the salary cap, you’ve been paying attention.

Todd McLellan says he plans to have White in the lineup tonight, taking the spot vacated by Marc-Edouard Vlasic who is out with that upper body injury. And what happens when Vlasic gets healthy now that White is part of the mix?

“What it’s done is it has created a little bit of competition now on the blue line,” McLellan said “We hven’t had that in a long time. If you play well, you stay in. If you struggle, you may have to watch a game.”

McLellan also said that White’s presence “gives us a chance to revive some of the back end guys who have played a lot. Maybe Danny Boyle’s minutes don’t have to be at 28 every night. They can come down a little bit. He (White)can take some of the pressure off.”

The coach wasn’t ready to say if he would simply slide White into Vlasic’s spot alongside Kent Huskins, and McLellan suggested things could be fluid tonight.

As far as the challenge of getting a new guy into the lineup within a few hours of his arrival, the coach said the first thing to do is make sure a player feels comfortable and letting him know he’s wanted.

“We won’t ask him to do too much, just go out and play hockey tonight. And then as practices add up, we’ll be able to work him into more and more situations, get him to understand how we play and what we want to accomplish,” McLellan said. “We really believe he’ll fit in fine.”

The Sharks are about to head out for another week on the road and that usually means less practice time. Still, McLellan didn’t seem bothered by that.

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“He’s brand new to the organization, but he’s a smart guy,” the coach said of White. “He understands the game. We can do a lot of video work with him in explaining situations and scenarios. And let’s face it.. There aren’t many secrets in hockey. We play the game like everybody else does and if our players work harder and do it longer, they have a better chance of winning.”

McLellan also said it was important to regard White as simply a piece of the overall puzzle when it comes to the Sharks finding success.

“He’s a piece, he’s not the whole,” he elaborate. “The whole still has to perform at a high level to be successful. We could have dropped Bobby Orr in here and if everybody else doesn’t do their part it wouldn’t matter. He is a piece we feel can help us and we’ll leave it at that.”

Drew Remenda quickly asked if Bobby Orr had been available.

“Bobby Orr was available,” McLellan responded, “but we couldn’t fit him in under the cap.”

****The Avalanche, by the way, expect to have the two player they picked up from St. Louis — Erik Johnson and Jay McClement — in the lineup tonight, too. But unlike the Sharks, Colorado also will be missing a couple of key pieces, Chris Stewart and Kevin Shattenkirk, who went the other way in that trade.

****Back to Ian White.

Kyle Wellwood was a teammate of White’s for five seasons in Toronto and describes the defenseman as “really talented. He’s smart, he loves the game and he should be a real solid contributor for us.

“He can jump in the play offensively and shoot it,” Wellwood said of White. “The style we play where we like to have the D catch the puck in the high slot and shoot is where he can score from. He should fit in real well.”

Jamal Mayers also played with White in Toronto and the two were part of the deal last season that brought Dion Phaneuf to Toronto, with Mayers and White going to Calgary.

“He’s a very poised defenseman who moves the puck really well. He’s a smart player,” Mayers said, using some of the same terms as Wellwood. “He’s not a big defenseman, but he’s sound and he gets his shots through.”

And that fact that the Sharks will be White’s fourth team in two seasons?

“Calgary didn’t have the cap space for him and Carolina wasn’t a good fit,” Mayers said. “I think he’s going to be a great fit here.”

*****Finally, Jason Demers is back from his short commute to Stockton. And if others were worried about that demotion to the ECHL, he certainly wasn’t. For one thing, he went through it last season and knows the business side reasons for the quick move.

(Yes, when the Sharks call it procedural it really means designed to create space under the salary cap as the NHL computes its salary data on a day-to-day basis. All within the rules, but one reason the Sharks wanted a nearby affiliate and they don’t come any closer than the Stockton Thunder).

Demers wasn’t worried, but he has friends who were when they saw the transaction.

“I got a lot of calls about that. I said, “Don’t worry. They told me not to worry, so don’t worry,’ ” Demers said. “I trust what Doug tells me and he said not to worry so I didn’t think anything of it.”

Yes, he said he did make the drive over the Altamont Pass. And, no, there isn’t any mileage reimbursement.

David Pollak

David Pollak has been following the NHL forever and at the Mercury News as an editor or reporter since 1987. For almost a decade he wrote about the Sharks as the paper's Fan in the Stands before joining the sports department in 2001. He became the Sharks beat writer before the 2007-08 season and began this blog at that time. You can also follow him on Twitter at @PollakOnSharks.

Glad Wilson’s finally addressing our defensive problems. And Joslin was weak and had a terrible shot. Like Kent Huskins but worse…

Sharks247(bum)

Drew Remenda quickly asked if Bobby Orr had been available.

“Bobby Orr was available,” McLellan responded, “but we couldn’t fit him in under the cap.”

OMG – ROTFL! Classic. Thanks Poller!

Thank goodness the weather here in Northern Cali sucks. Gives me an excuse to stay inside and watch hockey. Not that I need an excuse, but the family unit is tired of hearing me say “not now, got hockey.” Instead, today it’ll be, “not now, bad weather” but I ain’t fooling them – they know better especially since I wore my Thornton jersey all day yesterday.

Hockey Day in America rocks. Looks like I “got hockey” all day today and tomorrow. Yea!

Dirty Bum @4 Ditto here. Can’t wait for tonight.

GSDI!

Chris on Fire

Why does everyone bash on Huskins so much? He’s solid, makes a good first pass, sees the ice well…..LOL, I can’t even type that without throwing up and laughing at the same time.

I can’t believe people actually defended him in that way before. I hope he gets squeezed out of the lineup.

The Wyldbull

Good stuff. Thinking these little pieces could complete the middle of the puzzle.

hockeyrocks

#7 Chris on Fire

Uh…I think there’s another Dman who deserves to get “squeezed out” of the line up before Huskins. Maybe you should check player stats and salaries to determine poor bang for the buck before you post an insult about a particular player.

Mike49

boyle-murray
huskins-white
Demers-wallin
Braun

Yep,7 dmen tonight unless braun sits. I doubt he does though, it’s going to be tons of line changes trying to find the best pair with white.

Joe

OK, so I get how taking Demers off the roster for a day does a tiny bit for the salary cap…why did they move Petrecki, Wingels, Ferriero and Irwin up and down and put them on the roster for a day? Doesn’t that count too?

Chris on Fire

#9 – OK, I’ll look at everyone else’s stats and salaries to try to determine if he’s a good hockey player or not. I’ll try not to think of any of the actual hockey games from the past 1.5 years.

I was mainly commenting about how many other people bash Huskins daily on here. See #5. Huskins would be good bang for the buck if it was indeed a buck.

hockeyrocks

#11 Joe

Maybe DW had been negotiating for Kaberle and/or a backup GK and wanted to have several different bargaining chips available to tempt other GM’s to close a deal.

4th Hanson Brother

Good to hear two of White’s former (and once again) teammates describe him as “a smart hockey player”. Knowing that part of that is just blowing smoke, our D could use some brains once in a while (insert Wallin horror story here). I’m not familiar with White, so I’ll give it some time, but you have to be a little excited just for the possibilities that he’ll work out well. And then there’s the Great White Shark thing..

DumbPuck®

@Joe -

All of those moves somehow allow the Sharks to bank “extra” money (cap space that hasn’t been spent yet). According to CapGeek, the Sharks now have enough cap space to get the current roster to approximately April 1st without making another move. If things don’t change before then (i.e. other trades), the team would have to make a demotion in order to stay under after that…

Wupuck

Anyone think White has a chance at becoming the next Dan Boyle – or at least a poor mans Dan Boyle? Similar stature, but now that he has Boyle to coach him as well…

I’m not saying he is the Pronger that we fans would like to see in teal. But I do remember when he was out with inury and we struggled without him (and even the other hated dman, Wallin)

Huskins is a good depth guy that will take a hit to get the pass out of the zone. As for the constant debate that seems to go on here about salary VS production, I will leave that up to the real GM of the SJ Sharks to weigh.

Now for our newest Shark Ian White, I am excited at this addition. No, he’ snot Pronger either. But to get someone of that caliber, you have to give to get. And I really don’t know if I would give up a Couture, Clowe and a #1 pick for a top dman that is/was available… and that is likely what the other GM’s were asking for a top 2 dman.

http://none grd22

white sounds like a solid d man,maybe thats the piece that will help a week spot thats been there since blake left.and good to joshlin.

queasy

RE: the huskins debate
He is not, nor was he ever expected to be an offensive juggernaut like Boyle or a huge hitting slab of meat like Murray. However, he IS a plus 7 this year which puts him above pretty much every one else on the roster including all other d-men but Demers. He also happens to be the lowest salary on the dewfensive line with the exception of Demers as well. If, for the 18 or so minutes he is out there a game, he can give us above even-strength marks, he is worth the 1.7 million and deserves a spot and a little more faith. In my opinion of course. go sharks

Sharks247(bum)

(and now, for something totally different – a non-Huskin-bashing item)

OMG:!: ROTFLMAOPMP – JR doing the pre-coverage of the Heritage Classic on the NHL network had me in stitches. We all knew he was already good in front of the camera, but each time I see him he gets better and better.

JR is a +10. (Sorry Snow Bum.)

GSDI!

BUMBASS

Excited to see White tonight. Makes sense to dress 7 dmen because there will be options to mix and match and get a good look at the possible commbinations. Another good reason to play 7 dmen is because White may be tired from the flight, and all of the arrangements and preperation necessary to get to the game on time. He may be low on energy.

RDY

Gang, a question – yesterday during Rob Brind’Amour jersey retirement ceremony Walin showed a banana after his congratulatory speech.
Any ideas what’s up with that? Is it some internal joke between Walin and Brind’Amour?

spooky

one plus for huskins

and anyway, the way we keep the crease clean last i dont know how many games. impressive.

when season started i was that we need definitely a good D. but the way these guys murray,wallin,huskins,vlasic improved. i;m all good now.
but number wise we needed white.

nostradumba55

Speaking of the Heritage Classic, one of the anouncers had a great comment regarding former Shark, Perry Berezan. The guy said Perry hadn’t lost a step, more like the whole staircase. Beauty. I never heard that line before.

topcat

I usually agree with TM, but his comment “We could have dropped Bobby Orr in here and if everybody else doesn’t do their part it wouldn’t matter. ” is not true at all..I used to watch Orr play and he COULD do it all by himself ..easily the best defense man that ever played IMHO (at least, the way the game was played back then)..

Re: Huskins talk..he IS playing much much better, but lets face it, he is easily beaten with speed to the outside…that used to happen with Murray a lot, but he adapted and plays more conservatively against the speedy guys, and just levels the slower ones

White should help all the big scorers actually…defenses have collapsed to the net more on the Sharks this year because of our poor shooting my most of the defense men. Really, only Boyle and Demers are threats to score.

Sharks247(bum)

LTNC #113 From previous thread…..reposting it here….

but you can bet your sweet bippy (only the Olde Reprobate will know where that comes from)

Hey, I resemble that remark! Just ’cause there is the word “Olde” in Olde Reprobate’s moniker doesn’t mean Olde Reprobate is the only “seasoned” person on this blog.

GSDI!!

Sharks247(bum)

nostradumba55 @24

I missed that one….T F’n F!

BUMBASS

Amen. Old folks ROCK! I speak from experience

g-bum-man

BRAUN……BRAUN……..BRAAAAAAAUUUUUUN!

Me happy, me likey Doug Wilson latest move.

Huskins has indeed played well lately. Wallin is the person that should sit, when Pickles returns. Let Braun and White play-IMO. They have much more speed and offensive ability than Wallin.

At least there will be something new to discuss here on WTC, now that some new players are aboard the fun ride known by all as the San Jose Sharks.

Thanks DP for keeping all of us freaks and geeks up to date with the Team!!

I am glad that we won’t face Chris Stewart tonight. He does well against team teal for some reason.

g-bum-man

Ilslanders are up on the Kings 2-0 and Mcelhinney can’t stop any shots for the Ducks (Stl is up 4-3). As long as Hiller is suffering from PTSD, the Ducks may be in serious trouble. Now if the ‘Yotes and Stars can just fold, and the beloved Sharkies can win, it would be a perfect day in the Hockey Universe.

Go Sharks!

WI JP

It’s hard to keep track, Candles In The Wind.

Huskins and Wallin are now the targets of choice? And, Heatley and defensively challenged Marleau are now in the clear?

Enjoy the game. Hope the Sharks don’t let down against the Avs – think Edmonton, for example. JP

Scum Bum

WI JP #31,

You should know how indecisive the lynch mob is around here. It just depends on whether the mob believes that the Sharks gave up too many goals or didn’t score enough in any given loss.

g-bum-man

WI JP
I have always been in favor of the Braun and Demers getting ice time over Wallin. Been saying it for a long time. The need for defensive speed cannot be underestimated.
Huskins has earned his ice time and I will eat crow on that front. I still think he is never going to be more than a decent 5-6 spot d-man. But-every team needs a solid 5-6 d-man. What is really nice to see with Huskins, lately, is his passing. He has been moving the puck outta the d-zone and thru neutral ice really well.

Ian White is the new tool in the toolbox, so of course I want to see what he can do. Don’t you?

g-bum-man

Kings are getting their butts handed to them. Moulson has owned Quick tonight. I feel sorry for his sister. What a catch-22 for her!

Scum Bum

Ducks 3, Blues 7 in the 2nd…

OUCH!

Scum Bum

Just got some insight into why COL traded Chris Stewart. He wanted out. The team, or at least a large contingent, has tuned out Coach Sacco.

Grumpy2

G-bum-man
“Huskins has earned his ice time and I will eat crow on that front. I still think he is never going to be more than a decent 5-6 spot d-man. But-every team needs a solid 5-6 d-man. What is really nice to see with Huskins, lately, is his passing. He has been moving the puck outta the d-zone and thru neutral ice really well. ”

Thank you. Well said.

queasy; agreed.

breakaway

Ain’t seen RedWinger around here since about the time the Sharks started winning.